


pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood

by Anonymous



Category: Chronicles of Narnia - C. S. Lewis
Genre: Fluff and Tragedy, Gen, Grief, Post-Book: The Last Battle (Narnia), The Problem of Susan, Well sort of anyway, but may not be completely historically accurate, period items, references to religion (mostly but not exclusively Christianity), shopping/wish list
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-29
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2021-01-08 03:00:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21228677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: It was only the fervent memory of their fanciful wishes of wartime, spilled out on a typewriter by the light of a single candle with teary eyes, because it was something to remember (them by)And then it was a sort of protracted to-do list, gathering things she hadn't shared with them (and never would, now)And then its own memorial--to the Kings and Queens at Cair Paravel, to four siblings whisked away from a war-torn city--for the Queen who would never return.





	pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ashling](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashling/gifts).

> the title is a line from an A.H. Auden poem

oranges (the kind that have a second tiny orange at one end, and marmalade--please!) (L)  
nylons (if they have any) (S)  
Turkish delight (pistachio or rose, preferably) (E)  
Lamb chops (with mint sauce and peas) (but also chocolate cake, with mint icing) (P)  
\--  
a book of poetry, epic poetry, about war and peace and noble kings (and queens!) (P)  
a book of poetry, about trees, and lampposts on hills, and rabbits, and snow (L)  
the story of a dragon, or a wolf, who came to swear fealty to his kingdom (E)  
a sonnet about love, and loss, and hwo to COPE WIHT HTE END OF THE WORLD S)  
-  
Cheddar cheese and apple cake and clotted cream and tea with sugar and pink petit-fours (L)  
Tapioca for custard, with <strike>Calorman</strike> rosewater (E & me)  
<strike>A diplomatic solution to the atom bomb</strike>  
Spiced meat pie with ...verjus? I think? and clove and?  
Mincemeat tarts, and then tomato aspic and steak and kidney pie (E)  
'onions and liver' (P)  
-  
a waistcoat that isn't that ugly green color and doesn't itch E  
Sensible skirts, warm and durable, or even trousers L  
a skiing sort of sweater, for visiting the professor P  
<strike>friends who don't mock at sensible walking clothes</strike>  
\--  
books on:  
St. Francis of Assisi, in memory of Queen Lucy the Gentle  
Augustine, for Edmund, who doubted first but believed always after  
the epistles of Paul, and a Greek grammar, by declaration of King Peter  
matters in Tibet, Dr. King, I and Thou, Man's Search for Meaning  
\--  
powdered foundation, because a king does not needlessly show tears  
lipstick, in the brilliant red of the past decade, because a woman with a memory of being queen now goes to war  
eyeshadow, blue, because Edmund knew what it was to be shadowed by doubt, because he would like Mr. Spock  
blush, pale pink; a dreaming queen who once said innocent compassion was always right  
\--  
German and Russian grammars, dictionaries, decent column paper (I am making myself a diplomat, again, Edmund, not the bravest one, but someone Aslan would quite (have?) like(d) said "love thy neighbour as thyself" and..."as we forgive those who trespass against us")  
packaged crackers? tinned sausages? check what seems best based on market (there are people hungry, Lucy, people I may walk past, and I am going to do my damnedest--oh, you'd frown--to help them as I can)  
English clothes that can pass as West German (would you have fought against tyrants for the sake of freedom and food and not being hunted in the night, Peter?)  
My bravest face, and every wile, and prayers to whatever god may have mercy upon me--and sometimes I dare to think it could be Aslan--that the ambassador shares my sympathies 

_Ich liebe euch. Я вас люблю. είς τούς αίωνας. in sæcula. for ever and ever._

**Author's Note:**

> The German and the Russian at the end both mean (or should, if I've made a mistake) "I love you(pl.)". The Greek, Latin, and English after them are the same phrase from The Lord's Prayer/"Our Father", though it seems the former two would be more literally "to the ages".


End file.
